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17.4.18

Newsletter for 17 April 2018 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

Next Roadside Demo -
Big Banana, Coffs, April 19th 2:30pm

Next market stall -
Coffs Harbourside 22nd April

Draft alternative
refugee policy from RAR conference

Another sick child
transferred to Australia

Status Resolution
Support Services update

Roadside
demonstration: Thursday 19th April

A reminder that our
next roadside demonstration is this Thursday from 2.30 to4.00
pm by the Pacific Highway in front of the Big Banana. Please come
and join us if you can, to send a clear message to the public and to
politicians in all parties that the current cruel and inhumane
treatment of asylum seekers and refugees is unacceptable and shameful. We have
lots of banners to share, but we need more helping hands to hold them! Please
remember to wear covered footwear, as the ants are pretty fearsome at this
location.

Our next
Market: Sunday 22nd April, Coffs Harbourside market

A reminder that our
next market stall will be at the Coffs Harbourside market next Sunday,
22nd Aprilfrom 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. The market is located near
the jetty foreshore. If you can lend a hand between 9.00 am and 1.30 pm,
then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.
We will be handing out leaflets, talking to market-goers, selling our
merchandise and collecting signatures on a new open letter. Please drop by if
you can to have a chat and to sign the open letter.

Draft Alternative
Refugee Policy from RAR 2018 Conference

At the recent RAR
national conference, the following statement about refugee policy was endorsed
by delegates.

Australia needs to
regain its moral credibility by the following:

Recognise that people who arrive in Australia by using
people smugglers are human beings who need help.

End offshore detention. Resettle in Australia
those found to be refugees.

End mandatory detention of asylum seekers, while
allowing for detention if exceptional circumstances are shown. Treat
detainees with respect, not as criminals. Do not separate families unless
exceptional circumstances exist.

Process refugee and visa claims in a timely,
efficient and consistent manner. Simplify the visa system and grant only permanent
visas,

Use the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1948 as a guiding principle in framing refugee policy.

Use the UN Refugee Convention 1951 as the
yardstick for determining refugee status.

Never deport asylum seekers to danger.

An alternative to our
current deterrent policy would:

Address the causes for people becoming
refugees. Use our diplomatic, trade and aid muscle to leverage better
treatment of persecuted minorities in our region.

Work with our regional neighbours currently hosting
refugees, to provide Australian aid for safety, support, education and work
rights.

Support the
2018 UN Global Compact on Refugees. Fund UNHCR to set up more processing
centres for those applying for refugee status and visas in our region.

Increase our refugee intake.

Another sick child
transferred to Australia

The Federal
government was due in court yet again at the weekend , this time in a bid to
refuse the transfer of a mentally ill young girl to Australia for urgent
medical treatment. Just before proceedings were due to commence on
Saturday morning, the government agreed that the child, together with her
father and sibling, should be transferred from Nauru for urgent treatment. The
child's lawyer rightly stated: "It's outrageous that we need to take steps
to bring matters before the court in order for the government to take action
that they should be taking, given that they have a duty of care to children on
Nauru."

Here we have yet
another young person whose health has been destroyed by our government's cruel
policies, which are clearly designed to break people's spirits. This episode,
one of many, serves to demonstrate the urgent need to end the cruel policy of
detaining people indefinitely, simply because they have arrived in Australia by
boat. We must continue to do all we can to bring this shameful chapter in
our history to an end.

Status Resolution
Support Services update

Last week we wrote
about the swingeing cuts that the government is making to SRSS, which currently
provides limited support to asylum seekers living in Australia whilst their
claims for protection under the Refugee Convention are assessed. In recent
days, the tragic story of a Kurdish asylum seeker and his three young daughters
- his wife drowned when the overcrowded leaky boat in which they were sailing
sank whilst en route to Christmas Island - was published in the Saturday Paper.
The Department of Home Affairs has withdrawn his SRSS allowance, leaving him
destitute as he struggles to care for his three young daughters. As Paul
Ronalds, the CEO of Save the Children states: "It is astonishing that the
government would use these tactics to pressure people to leave behind their
lives in Australia and place their children back in harm's way."

This is a truly
desperate situation for Sadoullah Malakooti, who is clearly deeply traumatised.
More than ten people in his position have committed suicide in the past four
years. As Sadoullah says: "This is all designed to fail you, not to accept
you. I don't believe in the system anymore. If I had a real chance of living in
Iran, I wouldn't accept this torturous life. Every day is a torture here."

Please consider
phoning Malcolm Turnbull's office to protest about the cuts to SRSS, and to
plead with him to adopt a more humane and compassionate approach to people like
Sadoullah, who is one of approximately 7,000 asylum seekers who will be
affected by these cuts in the weeks ahead. You can read the full Saturday Paper
article by clicking on our Facebook link at the end of this newsletter.